NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- (AP) -- A surfer was bitten by a shark off the Volusia County coast today, the seventh attack along the county's stretch of beaches in four days.
Omar Oyarce, 27, was bitten in the right thigh when he re-entered the water after the beach had been cleared for a short time because of lightning. Oyarce was taken to a hospital but his injuries weren't serious and he was released.
"I was just getting in," Oyarce told Orlando television station WKMG. "I don't think I'm going to come back here again."
He's not the only shark attack victim who will avoid New Smyrna Beach in the near future.
Seventeen-year-old Becky Chapman used to love surfing near the Ponce de Leon Inlet off New Smyrna Beach, with its 3-foot waves and warm waters.
But it's going to be a long time before she returns to the place where a shark badly bit her leg last weekend, she said.
"I'd always gone to the Inlet because that's where the surfing is the best," Chapman said today. "I had seen sharks ... but never had they ever bothered me before.
"After this, I'll go surf somewhere else," she added.
Chapman was one of seven swimmers attacked in the waters off New Smyrna Beach during the past four days. Over Easter weekend, seven people were bitten.
That raises to 16 the total of attacks along more than 50 miles of Volusia County's beaches this year, said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File in Gainesville.
The Volusia County Beach Patrol said Tuesday that it has recorded one more than Burgess -- 17. The record for the county's beaches is 18 set in 1996.
Forty-one shark attacks have occurred worldwide since January. Thirty of them have been in the United States, 23 in Florida.
Chapman said she was attacked while sitting on her surf board in waist-deep water. The bite severed her Achilles tendon, nicked an artery and tore muscles in her left calf.
"When I was on the beach, they wouldn't let me look at my leg, but I reached down and felt it when I was still in the water," Chapman said.
"That's what made me start panicking, when I felt how serious it was. It's kind of gruesome ... when I put my hand down, I could feel the artery pumping."
Chapman was in good condition Tuesday, but said she didn't expect to be released from Bert Fish Medical Center for another two days.
Dr. Arlen Stauffer, medical director of the hospital's emergency department, said the attack Chapman suffered was typical of those treated at his hospital, though her wounds were more severe.
"We've had 45 shark bites that we've treated in our ER (in the past five years); 28 of them were surfers," Stauffer said. "But only about five of those bite victims had to be taken to the operating room."
Many surfers were asking a higher power for safety before getting in the water. One young man, board in arm, twice made the sign of the Cross before diving into the surf.
Another surfer, 23-year-old Christie Bew, said: "I see them (the sharks) out there, so I say my prayers and hope that I'm taken care of."
"When you step into the water, you step into the food chain," said one local, 52-year-old Woody Hart, who brought his camcorder to the beach Tuesday.
Meanwhile, state Rep. Charlie Justice, D-St. Petersburg, said Tuesday that he would was looking into filing legislation that would regulate or potentially ban shark feeding off the Florida coast.
"There is a growing concern that with these shark feedings, sharks will eventually associate humans with food," Justice said.
Omar Oyarce had just re-entered the water just south of Ponce de Leon Inlet after a short beach closure because of lightning when he was bitten on the right thigh. The 27-year-old Altamonte Springs man was treated for minor injuries and released from Bert Fish Medical Center, said Beach Patrol Deputy Chief Joe Wooden.
Based on numbers Wooden released Tuesday, the afternoon incident raises the number of shark bites in Volusia to 17 this year.
George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File in Gainesville, said as of Monday there had been only 15 shark bites.
With numbers like that, Becky Chapman said she thought she would be just another statistic after she was bitten Sunday. But at Bert Fish earlier Tuesday, she was treated like a celebrity.
The 17-year-old high school senior from Winter Park seemed taken aback by all the media attention.
The teen was peppered with questions as she sat in her wheelchair under the glare of television lights and photographers' flashes during her first public outing since surgery. Doctors repaired the muscle, artery and Achilles' tendon in her left calf after they were torn and severed by a shark's teeth Sunday afternoon. Chapman was one of six surfers in Volusia bitten over the weekend.
In an incident she called "dumb luck," Chapman was surfing in chest-deep water about a half-mile south of the inlet when the shark came up from behind and grabbed her leg.
"It felt like I had been punched," she said. "Then it started shaking around."
Chapman said when she realized what had happened, she started beating on the shark to get it to release her. She was then helped to shore by a friend and a bystander.
"I didn't start panicking until I reached down and felt my artery pumping," she said.
Nervously tugging at the hem of her hospital gown during interviews Tuesday, Chapman eventually warmed to the media attention in the hospital's cafeteria, but said her first impression wasn't as favorable.
"One thing that irritated me was this big camera sticking in my face while (lifeguards) were trying to treat me," she said. "I didn't like that much."
Also answering questions Tuesday were Dr. Arlen Stauffer, emergency room director for Bert Fish, and Wooden. Both played down the weekend bites.
Stauffer said while Chapman's injury was serious, it is only the fifth time in the past five years doctors have had to use surgery to repair a shark-related injury at the hospital. The fourth occurred Saturday when New Smyrna Beach resident Jason Valentin, 20, needed surgery to repair a bite to his left hand.
"We have treated 45 shark bites in the emergency room in the past five years," he said. "Twenty-eight (of the victims) were surfers. Most of those were treated and released."
Wooden said shark sightings are an almost daily occurrence along Volusia beaches and lifeguards deal with the situation by making the water off-limits for a short time until the shark leaves the area.
When asked if any of the big fish were spotted Tuesday morning, Wooden quipped, "the only sharks around are in here."
However, his lifeguards said they cleared a portion of beach south of the 27th Avenue beach ramp for about 20 minutes Tuesday morning after someone reported seeing a fin in the water.
Chapman is expected to be released from the hospital Thursday, but will require months of rehabilitation before the full extent of her injuries is known. However, she is prepared to do what it takes to get back to normal.
"I am an athlete. I play softball," she said. "I want to heal so I won't jeopardize that."
Chapman also said she will surf again, but probably not near Ponce de Leon Inlet.
Meanwhile, state Rep. Charlie Justice, D-St. Petersburg, said Tuesday he was looking into filing legislation that would regulate or potentially ban shark feeding off the Florida coast.
"There is a growing concern that with these shark feedings, sharks will eventually associate humans with food," Justice said.
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